What you need to do now for the PARCC PBA Assessment

1. What you need to do now for the PARCC PBA Assessment Jan 2014

2. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Agenda • Recap from last Network PD • Roadmap and PD Topic Roadmap • Action Items • Reminder: Available Resources • Highlight: Q&As from December PD • What You Need to Do Now for the PBA PARCC • Read PARCC’s Assessment Guide • Take PARCC Training • Review Writing PD on BPS Learns • Continue embedding Sample Qs and Tests into Instruction • Complete Scheduling • Review BPS Readiness Checklist and Customize for Your School • Review the Accessibility and Accommodations Guide • Q&A

3. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Recap of December PD • We covered the differences between the PBA and EOY exams. In addition, we talked about the skills assessed in each exam and the suggested strategies for each test items. • We took a practice assessment together and talked through PARCC’s accessibility and accommodationfeatures with Dan Wiener from DESE • We communicated that Bostonpublicschools.org/PARCC contains all PDs, information guides, cheat sheets, Q&As, and more.

4. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS PARCC SY2015 Roadmap End Computer Based PBA PARCC (4/10) Start Computer Based PBA PARCC (3/16) Start Computer Based EOY PARCC (5/4) We are here! Finish Computer Based EOY PARCC (5/29) JUN AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY End Paper Based PBA PARCC (4/3) Start Paper Based EOY PARCC (5/11) Start Paper Based PBA PARCC (3/23) END Paper Based EOY PARCC (5/22) Note 1: Start indicates the first day of possible scheduling and not the mandatory start date. Note 2: Schools have the discretion of when to administer PARCC within the above time frame Source: MA DESE

5. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Network PD Roadmap (1/2)

6. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Network PD Roadmap (2/2)

7. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Action Items • In addition to the great work you’ve been doing for ELA and Math, please continue to equally emphasize instruction in science and social studies • Sign-up for the BPS PARCC Newsletter! • Review your student’s Personal Needs Profile (PNP) for accuracy • Scheduling should start now. Inventory your classrooms, assign test coordinators and proctors, and begin building a schedule • School leaders, teachers, and students should take the practice tests (or at least sample items) by mid-January

8. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Action Items • Inventory (and order) your headphones and approved bilingual, word-to-word dictionaries • Complete applicable training (by role) • Invite your lead teachers and whoever is interested to PDs • Refer to Bostonpublicschools.org/PARCC • Run the PARCC System Check on your computer(s) to make sure they have the appropriate updates.

9. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reminder: Available Resources Available Resources • Bostonpublicschools.org/PARCC • PARCConline.org (especially the sample questions and practice tests) Future Plans • BPS Learns. OIIT has been working hard to develop BPS Learns. • PARCC Community Meeting. Logistics and details to follow

10. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Highlight: Useful Tools Below are a couple of tools that we want to highlight. All the tools below are available on http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4248 1. Everything you need to know about the documents and resources we have been providing - graphically and summarized! 2. One-Pager of PARCC Preparation Activities (month by month) 3. PARCC’s Assessment Guide (Activity Guidance - month by month) 4. DESE’s overview of the accessibility and accommodation features offered to all students (compared with MCAS too)

11. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Highlight: Useful Tools Below are a couple of tools that we want to highlight. All the tools below are available on http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4248 5. All you need to know about scheduling. The tool contains the MA testing schedule, PARCC session/unit times, a WiFi quality tracker, scheduling guidance, and a scheduler 6. Detailed readiness checklist. Lists all the activities required for schools to be ready for PARCC – activities are delineated by role. 7. Network PDs! (in the Network PD page) 8. Accessibility and Accommodations Matrix – one pager

12. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Highlight: Useful Tools Below are a couple of tools that we want to highlight. All the tools below are available on http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4248 9. DESE’s guidance on tech skills required for online assessments

13. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Highlight: Q&As from Dec. PD We have captured Q&As from our last December PD. Please navigate here to see the questions and answers - http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4259

14. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS What You Need to Do Now for the PBA PARCC

15. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1. Read PARCC’s Assessment Guide PARCC’s assessment guide provides month-to-month guidance on what you should be doing to be ready for PARCC. Please see this link for the guide. Recommendation: Conduct an infrastructure trial and perform system checks on your devices (see next slide)

16. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1a. System Check It is highly recommended you perform a system check on all your test taking devices (online schools) Link to system check: http://systemcheck.parcc.testnav.com/

17. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2. Take Training Based on your role at your school, you should plan to take your training as soon as you can. Please see the below table for the recommended training. Lastly, please see this link for the PARCC Training site.

18. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 3. Review Writing PD in BPS Learns • An Introduction to Writing Standards PD is available on BPS Learns (http://learn.mybps.org), developed in collaboration by Annemarie Powers, Director of Interdisciplinary Writing and Elizabeth Homan, Digital Learning Specialist. • This module provides a great introduction into what you need to do to prepare your students for writing in the PARCC assessment. • To find the module, click on browse courses, search under "Instructional Research and Development" and select “Writing". • Currently, all principals and headmasters are enrolled in the course. • If any school would like a version to use with their staff, please request on the following link: Standards-Based Writing PD (Request a Course Copy).

19. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 4. Embed Sample Qs and Take a Practice Test • School leaders, teachers, and students should take the practice tests by mid-late January • In addition, test administrators and proctors should feel comfortable with general test procedures (e.g. start/restarting the test) using the online word formatting toolbar, and equation builder • Teachers should also get students comfortable with the above and with typing • Teachers, please try to embed sample questions into your classwork

20. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 5. Complete Scheduling In one place, we have all you need to know about scheduling. The tool contains the MA testing schedule, PARCC session/unit times, a WiFi quality tracker, and scheduler (below is the scheduler). Available on http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4248 Directions Tracks supply/demand by intelligently summing the right cells Wi-Fi Quality Tracking Scheduler

21. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 6. Review BPS Readiness Checklist By role, we have all the checklist items you should complete to prepare for PARCC. Feel free to customize for your school/yourself! Available here: http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4248

22. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 7. Read the Accessibility and Accommodations Manual All test coordinators, test administrators, proctors, and accommodations coordinators should understand all of the accessibility and accommodation features in PARCC. Please see this link for the below resources: http://bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4248. In addition, please see this link for PARCC’s Accessibility and Accommodations manual - http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-accessibility-features-and-accommodations-manual DESE’s overview of the accessibility and accommodation features offered to all students (compared with MCAS too) Accessibility and Accommodations Matrix – one pager

23. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 8. Review Required Qualifications to Administer and Coordinate PARCC For Spring 2015, the following are the required qualifications for MA educators to administer and coordinate PARCC tests: • School Test Coordinators, Test Administrators, and Proctors must be employed by the school or district. • School Test Coordinators are not required to be certified education professionals. • Test Administrators must be education professionals. • Proctors are not required to be certified education professionals. • Proctors may administer accommodations, provided they receive training prior to administration and are under the direct supervision of the Test Administrator.

24. Appendix

25. Resources for Instruction • Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html • PARCC Model Content Frameworks, K-2, 3-11 http://www.parcconline.org • Achieve’sEQuIP Exemplars http://www.achieve.org/EQuIP/ Juried K-12 standards-based units and lessons in ELA and math from districts and states • Achieve the Core http://achievethecore.org/ • Free content designed to help educators understand and implement the Common Core State Standards

26. BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Links on a Page